veni, vidi, vici
by doxyy
Summary: They collaborated to raise a child. In his absence, she realizes this might be more than either of them prepared for. — Erza/Luxus; fluffy/suspense/vignette
1. Chapter 1

**/disclaimer/:: **i only own your soul.

**/title/::** _veni, vidi, vici_

**/summary/::** Luxus conquers babies. Erza watches. — Erza/Luxus; fluffzilla

**/note/:: **not that anyone's particularly familiar with my writing style, but this will be written in short bursts of text because i hate dragging on.

—

Never mind the 'what' that is obviously unexpected, it's the 'who' and the…well, primarily the 'who', yes, that is most unexpected here…Luxus' figure walking into the guild...the image is rarely accompanied by anything cute.

Erza notes how big his hands look, how utterly terrified and awkward _he_ looks. She's probably the only one who sees it that way. His face is taut, like he's trying so hard to keep it from running off the rest of his head.

Because _everything_ is personal in this guild, whether they realize it's an accusation or not, things immediately take a sharp turn towards 'commitment'.

"Where'd ya get **your** baby, Luxus?"

"The brat **yours**? You knock up some chick?"

"**Your** baby looks kinda cold, ya know…"

"It…it isn't mine you bunch of morons," he growls, frozen nose blending into the rest of the rising blush dusted over his face. Erza has to admit she's tempted to make jokes as well, the way his huge coat makes him look like a bear. Her breath fogs the mob around him in her vision to make a pretty late-autumn picture though, so she doesn't move from her spot.

"You say you found it," Mira says softly, producing something to swaddle the kid in out of nowhere. Erza blushes, getting a better look at the little booger tucked away like a plucked cherry. She can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. It doesn't have a lot of hair yet, either.

"It was cryin' and stuff in an alley so…I dunno…it fell asleep when I put it in my coat…"

"That was a good thing to do," the eldest Strauss praises, letting everyone crowd a little to have a look. Bixlow claims it has Luxus' face, Fried telling him he's an idiot because Luxus' face isn't that fat. Natsu pokes its cheek, and for an instant there's a hush that falls, then teasing giggles when Luxus barks at him to keep his grimy hands off.

"You might break it, idiot," he mutters, frustrated and grumbling when Mira shoves the bundle back to him good-naturedly and leads him to where she thinks they can let it nap.

"Of all people, Luxus found a baby," Lucy says, face deadpan and devoid of enthusiasm. "It's going to die."

"He won't keep it," Cana says matter-of-factly, shrugging. "Even if he couldn't just take it to an orphanage, he'd just find someone else to take care of it."

"As long as it's not me," Gray says avidly.

"Gray-sama as a father…" Juvia remains unresponsive after letting this tumble out of her mouth. Erza shakes her head and starts walking away.

"You can't even keep your clothes on. Nobody would even ask you."

It's what her autopilot is used to responding with, but her feet are tracing the way into the infirmary now. That huge coat is sitting on a chair, the bed swallowing the tiny person snug in fuzzy cloth and oblivious to the confused, troubled face staring down at it. Erza stands in the doorway, waiting for him to turn to look at her.

"You didn't just find it, did you," she asks. Otherwise, he would be angrier. He would be louder. He would be less contemplative. He would be less...this. She thinks, anyway. Does she even know him as well as she thinks?

He doesn't say anything for a minute, yellow hair almost gray with the dusty light through the window.

"She was walking away from it. I saw her leave it. Nobody even stopped or did anything."

"The mother?"

"Yeah."

His words are crafted, each like he's pulling metal, pounding it to sound harder than it probably had in his head. This is Luxus' armor, and Erza can respect that.

"You did, though."

"Ha…"

He misses the smile, so she lets it linger a while so it might warm his back.

—


	2. Chapter 2

**ii.**

—

It's possible they've all had the same feeling, even before the night's passing. There was never going to be any orphanage. Nobody probably has any real doubts this is going to unfold into the most entertaining thing that has happened since…ever.

Viska and Alzack donate everything their little girl has out grown. A grocery list has been made. Everyone has volunteered to do something. This is a village. Here is the child.

Erza helps bring in bags of diapers, wipes, formula, every kind of ridiculous noise maker and stuffed animal Mira felt compelled to grab off the shelves at the toy store. The little one, all smiles and screeching with the circle of attention it has while the women take turns holding her, is quickly becoming everyone's personal treasure.

And, openly staring from across the room like a hawk, is Luxus.

"Have you even had to change any diapers yet?" Erza asks, throwing him a box of wipes. He blinks at it and shrugs.

"Mira helped me last night. It was just as gross as I figured it would be."

"But you didn't actually do anything."

"…I handed her the powder."

"Mmm. Your bravery is unprecedented."

He sighs and looks away, a little less than what she was prepared for him to do. Her eyes soften.

"We're all here to help, but you're going to have to learn some things if this is something you're seriously undertaking."

There will be no orphanage. Erza has lived all of the days she cares to remember under the protection of the guild. Luxus probably already senses her bias.

He glances over at the women, the child getting fussy. Probably hungry again. Erza watches him move to do his job. The details of which are still fuzzy. He at least knows it includes being there.

He is huge, standing with girls and glaring when they laugh and blushing by the time he turns back to look at Erza, narrow line of a mouth begging.

"Help me."

So she gets a better grip on her bags and follows, wondering if he even knows how to burp her yet.

He doesn't. The baby christens him with his first puke. It's disgusting, he's sure, though he can't see it. He makes faces. His hands, however, support her head with the shaky gentleness of caution and inexperience.

Erza wipes the back of his clothes while he hums something that rolls like thunder.

—


	3. Chapter 3

**iii.**

—

It soon becomes clear this is more than he's bargained for. Luxus is good at playing body guard, but a baby needs a little more than silent compliance with its needs and the occasional sigh.

He is trying, though. Erza isn't sure she understands completely, but she isn't really surprised by anything he does anymore. Not because he's predictable, but because whether it's for better or worse, he does things fantastically.

"I gotta set up my place or something," he mutters on the one week anniversary of his discovery, the gray under his eyes telling the story of how much he loves having to sleep here where all the supplies are. Mira is kind hearted, but she makes sure he gets the full experience.

"I can help."

Erza says it without thinking, though they've probably both assumed she would anyway. He had his doubts a few days ago when Lucy had to explain to her that babies can't eat strawberry cake, but her eagerness is, admittedly, a source of relief.

Erza hasn't seen the inside of his place before. The furnishings are sparse, not because he can't afford what he wants, but because he's always away on jobs anyway. Not a whole lot of time to enjoy personal space.

"Don't you want some cheerier things?" she asks critically, kicking away a lone sock near the easy chair. No couch. Probably never has company.

His pause is thoughtful, looking at the sleepy girl cradled in his arm.

"Guess the place could use a makeover…"

Not even a bit of defensiveness. She was thinking for sure she'd be surprised, but…

"Where would you put a crib?"

"My room," he says unhesitatingly, walking away from her.

She watches him disappear into the gray of what she assumes is the aforementioned room. Then she's making plans to clean the floor so it won't be so horrid to sleep on.

—


	4. Chapter 4

**iv.**

—

It takes all of a few seconds for even a dolt like Luxus to figure out having Erza around the house might become necessity after all, even if just for a little while. She not only cleans the house with Lucy and Levi's help and points out this system makes it easier to take jobs, she _cooks_. Real food; something he only gets when he's in the guild at the right time.

"How long you think we'll hafta do this," he grumbles through a spoonful of scrambled eggs a week into their routine. Erza raises an eyebrow and smirks, knowing he isn't as inconvenienced as he'd like her to think.

"As long as Ursa needs me."

"Her name ain't Ursa, ya dork," he says, frowning. "You just call her that 'cause it sounds like your name."

"You think of something, then," she huffs, red ponytail high and dark under the kitchen light. Luxus narrows his eyes, trying to focus on the blurry halo he swears isn't there. Unless she-devils have halo's too. She still scares the shit out of him. Ursa babbles and throws her bottle at his nose.

"I'll take her to the guild tomorrow and look for a job close by for when you get back," Erza says, throwing bacon onto his plate. He looks up at her over his throbbing nose. He swears she's laughing behind her eyes.

"And I promise I'll finish this one as soon as possible."

"I look forward to your return, then."

It's weird to think he'll be…_returning_ to someone…it's different than showing up at the guild and getting glomped by Fried...he'll legit have specific peop— er, a specific _person_. One singular person.

...But the baby can't say 'okairinasai', so that means he has to admit his fantasy includes Erza. Like, wearing an apron. And smiling.

He stops fantasizing before he throws up his eggs.

"Take the kid. I gotta piss."

"I AM A GODDAMN LADY YOU STUPID PIG," she screams, whisking Ursa away from him and kicking him in the face.

She watches him stagger away into the bathroom and tweaks Ursa's nose.

"Daddy's a bastard…yes he is…"

Then she blushes, choking on the 'mommy' half of her coo and mumbling about picking up an outfit from her place.

—


	5. Chapter 5

**v.**

—

Erza is translucent the last third of the way to Fairy Tail, Ursa bundled in her arms and the wind blowing up and over the folds of blanket to kiss her cheeks. Normally her red hair gives her away and somebody at least nods with a smile or calls her name.

Her head is bowed to the elements though, so even if someone is making an effort to greet her on the streets, she probably isn't going to see them.

She'd like to convince herself it's because of the weather, anyway.

Her thoughts mist like dry ice, white and thick and full of all the things one glance at Jellal standing in the shadows of a tavern can stir. There isn't much room to walk in a direction besides forward this morning, though. So the flit of curious eyes to the thing in her arms before she nearly plows into an elderly homeless man is the last thing she sees.

She breathes in the thin air. It's cold and dead; whetting itself for winter.

It isn't so much explaining why she's carrying a baby around. It's going to be explaining that she lives under the same roof as Luxus. To take care of the baby. And he isn't even really under the same roof, technically. At least not right now. And anyway, a man and a woman in the same house...that's going to sound indecent, but Luxus doesn't really count. He's not, like...a _man-_man. Right? That—

And then she realizes this is only making it worse; she has nothing to feel guilty about…

…Though, feeling she owes Jellal an explanation for her own decisions…

…For what, though…she hardly ever sees him lately...

Her lips go numb with remembrance, face scarlet with confusion.

There is nothing strange if her intentions are pure. And have they ever been anything but?

…So, why does she keep tripping over her own feet— for the love of _gods_, curse these _cobblestones_...

Her brain scolds her in Luxus' voice, telling her to mind herself if she's holding The Kid.

Her jaw squares and she hikes with her feet high up to the guild, ignoring the stares and the sudden wish that he'd left his bear coat behind.

It's too damn cold.

—


	6. Chapter 6

**vi.**

—

"Luxus came and told me himself."

Erza's flustered, incredulous face stares over at Jellal's, hot broccoli soup steam teasing under her nostrils. Her fingers squeeze around her spoon, Ursa's suckling at her bottle the only sound to accompany this new piece of information.

"…You mean, he came to you a while ago and…explained why I was helping him…"

"I mean he came to me and made me give him my word," he mutters warm as firelight, "that in his absence, I would make sure you felt safe with the baby."

Erza's spatial plane tips sharply, she and Jellal suddenly pop up illustrations in a book she imagines Luxus scrawling over with a quill and tender words, large hands touching every dried loop so it knows how special it is in the grand scheme. It blows her mind, it makes her feverish, it pipes sweet icing around the finished image of her senior.

He is a good man. She already knows this. Now Jellal is sitting here with a satisfied smile, probably thinking the exact same thing.

"I told him he could count on me."

Her smile is plump and relaxed, hand pulling the bottle away from Ursa so she can burp her.

"He picked a good man for the job."

The blue mark over her companion's eye shifts with his easy grin; his arms push his empty bowl away and fold so he can sit back to admire her acquired skills.

"It was a bit of a surprise to see you like that, all bundled and completely aware of your surroundings. If picking me as a guardian was a good choice, I'd say the best one was putting his faith in you."

"I've never been so paranoid," she admits, patting Ursa's back gently. "I'm not very graceful…not like real mothers…"

"I doubt he cares about that," he assures her. "Luxus isn't a graceful man himself."

He takes his coat from the back of his chair and stands over her. She blinks in innocent surprise when he leans over to kiss her forehead.

"I heard about the job he took," he says before opening the door. "It was the most difficult one on the board. Natsu's ranting tipped me, anyway."

Erza pushes some red hair from her eyelashes, blushing.

"He told me he wants to pay for my apartment too, the fool. He'll get himself killed. I told him I'd take my turn soon enough."

Jellal chuckles and says on his way out, "Don't deny a man his chance to take care of something important to him."

The click of the deadbolt becomes the memory of intense eyes as they turn their back on her with a final command.

_"Wait for me."_

Erza sits in her chair staring down the door handle until Ursa falls asleep in her arms.

—


	7. Chapter 7

**vii.**

—

The first week she is fine. She is aware that, because of how far he has to travel, how difficult the job is, how much he has undertaken (presumably for the sake of providing for the baby…)

…

(…and her…)

it may take weeks. It will take weeks. Because it's getting into two weeks. Two weeks of jogging between errands and being thankful for her savings and letting everyone take turns watching Ursa while she gradually pares at her own sanity wondering what level of worry is appropriate.

Week one she projects a breezy calm, full of faith in his best. He was no doubt doing his best somewhere, and she would do the same. Jellal dropped by once to eat dinner.

Now the oozing doubts of a caring woman are starting to coagulate, making her stiff, making it more difficult to function.

She consults Makarov and is somewhat reassured—until she's home, and she's not anymore.

Ursa wails in the wee hours of night; Erza pretends she is huge. She pretends she is a large coat, struggling to speak a few octaves lower than is natural. They both feel a little better.

The apartment gets naturally darker and colder with the days getting shorter, and she feels stupid when, three days into week two, it occurs to her that she could probably sleep in Luxus' bed.

"You seem happy tonight," Jellal comments, her soft humming accompanying the frying of noodles and spice. She turns to smile at him.

"Today felt nice."

"It was bitter cold," he says amusedly. She shrugs. Ursa chews her stuffed bear's face and shrieks.

Her nightly ritual suddenly makes her self conscious. She and Ursa share a bath, don their pajamas, and cuddle in the easy chair.

With the baby down and blanketed, Erza shuffles over to the large bed, flush with anxiety.

What if he comes home in the middle of the night to find her like this?

Her cheeks puff with defiance and childish superstition. She doesn't want to admit the prospect of having someone else around trumps a potential lecture on personal space.

She inhales under the covers; she instantly wants to cry because she is engulfed in his scent. Every insecurity had until now melts into a gross puddle of sentimentality. She realizes she'll have to wash his sheets every day if this is how it's going to be.

Ursa whimpers in her sleep. Erza pads over with his pillowcase and wraps the bear in it.

They both sleep through the night.

—


	8. Chapter 8

**viii.**

**/note/:: **_i changed the summary since this starts having a bit of an actual plot _

—

The middle of week three brings trouble, or so Jellal senses.

"I was in a tavern on the South side a few days ago when I caught a conversation about the heiress of a very prominent family a few towns over finally being dragged back home," he says low enough for her to hear across the table. "She had given birth, but there was no baby with her."

Erza pales.

"…You think…you think Ursa is her child? How can you be sure?"

"I'm not, but if she is, there is reason to worry," he informs her. "She came out of a troubled family."

"How so?" Ursa fusses, so Erza picks her up, turning about the room while Jellal keeps on with his disturbing revelation.

"The mother's uncle took hold of the family assets until his sixteen year old niece could properly run the estate and family business," he explains. "She disappeared about six months ago, and they'd been searching for her ever since."

"What kind of mother just drops their child off and hopes someone will take it in after all that," Erza seethes, trying to understand from this woman's point of view. "Wouldn't it be better to leave it with someone she trusted—"

"Who do you trust in that situation," Jellal reminds her. "She lived as a vagabond for the majority of her pregnancy, maybe sensed that venturing into a busy town like this to give birth was as large a risk as she could take."

"You've certainly done your research haven't you," Erza mutters, feeling nauseous. He nods slowly.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but there's more."

Erza's hair feels coarse, irritating the skin near her neck. She braces herself. "What else."

"It would be ideal that the uncle wants to find the child to reunite it with its mother, but apparently the pregnancy was a result of the mother's affair with the heir to a rival company. If he's set assassins to be on the look out, independent ones like me…we think he wants to prevent a potential merger agreement that could result if the child is found."

Every word is kindling to the fire burning her blood, pulling the anger to Erza's face. She couldn't care less about the politics and business surrounding what has quickly become the most important thing in her life, but if it means keeping it safe...

"What should I do," she asks quietly.

"Lay low," he advises. "I'll keep an ear and an eye open to see if this is just something that might blow over with time."

—


End file.
